


On Fairytale Logic

by DyedViolet



Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, I decided "Hm what if I took that plot and made it nose dive?", I found out recently about how the manga ends, Supernatural Elements, Western Zodiac, fae-style deal, the only logic here is magic logic and 7am logic, zodiac tohru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22671769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DyedViolet/pseuds/DyedViolet
Summary: Tohru figures out a way to–well, not exactly break it.She bends the curse. Just a little.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	On Fairytale Logic

Tohru's mind wanders as she cleans up after dinner that night. The curse. She knows it can be broken, has sworn in her heart to do anything it takes to get there, but it's taken so long already without anything to show for it. She doesn't know what methods will work, and these people deserve so much more than fruitless efforts. These people who have been through so much, who have accepted her into their family. Who just need a hug.

Shigure is busy with meeting a deadline for once. Yuki and Kyo are both studying, but they hadn't made plans to study with her tonight. They won't miss her if she's gone for a few hours. More than that, yes, they'd notice, but a few hours will be fine.

Tohru scrubs the last stain from the final plate and leaves it on the rack to dry. She wipes her hands on her apron, leaves it on its hook, slips on a jacket, and closes the door quietly behind her.

The Soma compound is large with winding streets. Over the years, streetlights were considered more of a suggestion than a safety measure, and so Tohru has the dark on her side as she heads towards the miniature city's heart. She can hardly tell the buildings apart, and she neglected to bring a flashlight, but surely she will be able to find her goal if she just keeps looking– 

"Tohru Honda," comes the cool, dispassionate voice of Akito. Tohru whirls around to face her, startled out of her thoughts. "What exactly are you doing in my home?"

"I–I'm looking for the shrine," Tohru says. "Could you–Could you show me where it is?" Akito smiles mirthlessly at her.

"There are many shrines in the compound, and many more outside it. Why don't you run along–"

"I'm looking for the shrine for the curse," Tohru explains. Akito blinks, caught off guard. "Th–There must be one, right? A shrine meant for the Zodiacs? The curse must have started somewhere, right?" Akito's sneer grows.

"Ah, of course. You must think you'll be able to do what generations before you could not. Follow me, little Tohru. Come see how fruitless this will be." Akito turns, her long kimono trailing behind her, the silk threads shining in what little light is still out. A rooster tail. A Phoenix tail. 

Tohru trails after it like a duckling.

Through a side street and down an old staircase, then past a pathway cracked and sprouting tufts of grass, Akito leads her to an old wooden shrine. It is small, its wood rough with age and covered in lichen. The tiles of its tiny roof look like they could fall at any moment, patchy with moss. An aged rope hangs over its entrance, still bearing scraps of the paper that rotted away. Behind the skimpy curtain is a neglected Zodiac set, with only the twelve. Tohru crouches down and peers under the shrine's stilts, and finds a spot of orange abandoned in the mud. She pries it out, wipes the dirt off of the kitten's face as best she can, and sits it in front of the twelve's shelf.

"There it is," Akito says blandly from behind her. She's keeping distance between herself and the shrine. "As best as we can tell, destroying that shrine would kill us. Otherwise, we would have gotten rid of it long ago." There is a rustle of silk as Akito turns back towards the stairs. "Have fun with your little plan, Tohru."

Tohru waits until she is gone to pull out her handkerchief. She came unprepared, but at least she has this. Tenderly, she wipes the grime off of the little statuettes, starting with the cat and going in order from there. As she polishes them, she reveals delicate carvings in the stones, each one chosen for it's natural coloration to suit its animal. When that's done, she takes her filthy handkerchief and wipes down the inside of the shrine, brushing away dirt and leaves and everything else left after all these years.

With all the cleaning she can do for now done, she steps back, bows her head with eyes closed, and claps twice.

"Hello. I am sorry that you have been neglected for so long, and I apologize for not being able to do more than this for now." She pauses. The shrine says nothing.

"I know that this idea is a bit Western, but I would like to work out a deal with you."

* * *

"I'm back from the store!" Tohru announces. She has a bag on either shoulder. She slips off her shoes at the door, and leaves one bag on the side table just a step away. The other bag she takes with her into the kitchen.

"I'll get started on dinner now," she announces before fully disappearing behind pots and the chopping of vegetables. Shigure looks up curiously from his newspaper to the bag, lying innocently by the door.

"What do you think Tohru-chan bought, Yuki?" Shigure asks idly. Yuki, for his part, is starting to regret not doing homework in his room like usual.

"I don't know. It's none of our business, anyways."

"But aren't you curious? She didn't say a word about it when she came home, that's not how she normally is." Yuki sighs at him.

"If you're so curious, than you can ask her yourself."

"But wouldn't it be easier to just take a peek? Come on, Yuki, won't you go check what's in there? For me?" Shigure shoots him with–He would call it "puppy eyes," but Yuki could never bring himself to give into the pun. He ignores him, turning back to his homework. Now it's Shigure's turn to sigh as he stands up, melodramatic as always, and make his way over to the side table with the shopping bag.

He peers in to find sandpaper resting on top. An eyebrow twitches in surprise, and he pushes it aside to see what's beneath. A small stack of white paper, some sort of wax polish, scrubbing brushes and ceramic tiles.  _ She must be planning something in the garden _ .  _ A surprise for Yuki? _

"There's nothing exciting in here," he whines as he returns to the table, settling back in with his paper.

"I told you so. That's what you get for being a snoop."

* * *

It's only another week until Tohru gets the chance to slip away again. She makes sure to clean everything as she rushes through her chores, and then she hangs up her apron and scoops her bag up from the table she left it on. It's warm enough to leave her jacket behind now. The sun will stay out a little longer now, too.

She runs to the Soma compound, not caring about being spotted this time. She remembers the side street she needs to take, just barely, and from there her feet seem to find the shrine all on their own. Panting, she sets down the bag and crouches to start picking out her supplies.

The sandpaper rubs away the green growth on the stilts and smooths the splitting wood. When she's satisfied with them, she paints the varnish up and down each side, tinting them amber and sealing them against the elements. She tries to scrub the roof clean, but doesn't meet much success. Every other tile seems to fall off, and each time she apologizes and glues a new one on. She sands the sides of the shrine, too, and tries to varnish them without leaving big globs of wax on it. It's mostly successful. She goes over the inside of the shrine again with a cleaned handkerchief, this time with the cleaning vinegar that makes the kitchen smell like lavender. She doesn't dare to varnish the inside, to afraid of making a clumped mess. Instead, she lights the two tiny candles in her pockets with half a book of matches, and places one in each back corner. The flames dance, casting a golden glow over all thirteen tiny animals and making them shine. At last, she sits down in the grass, sun gone but candlelight strong enough, and starts cutting and folding the thick paper she brought.

“The curse is cruel, you know,” Tohru says as she folds the first shide. “It’s been so long. Whatever it was meant to be, it’s taken on a different shape now.” She lays the first shide down, atop the plastic bag, and picks up the next paper to begin cutting it. 

“There must have been love in it at some point, yes? There’s a way to look at all this that makes it seem like a gift.” She puts down the scissors and begins to fold again.

“None of us are able to see it that way. The curse isolates them. It keeps them from being held by their parents, their friends, their lovers.” She puts the second shide down.

“Speaking of that, don’t the terms seem a bit arbitrary? Being hugged by the opposite gender. Not everybody is cishet.” She smiles at her own point in this argument. The shrine doesn’t respond.

“The cat has an especially unfair role. Why must he have a monstrous form? What did he do, aside from being late?” Another finished shide joins the stack.

“There is also the part about reincarnation, and that it always happens within this giant extended family. Is the goal to keep all thirteen of them together?” She pauses, letting her hands fly over the now-familiar motions. There is a breeze, and no other sound.

“I feel like there are parts of the story that I am missing. You can’t tell them to me, but I don’t think I need them to work this deal out.

“Reincarnation is about living a new life. With this curse, the Somas have to live in the same patterns over and over again, staying tied to the same people as before. The curse denies them the chance to live a full life, meeting new people and making new friends. Yet, I’ve managed to find a way in.

“Why can’t others join the Zodiac? Shouldn’t outsiders, who have made the decision to work around everything that the curse is, be able to make the choice to become one of them? I don’t think you would want to hurt them on purpose, would you?” Tohru picks up the last paper, slowly cutting its slits.

“In addition, couldn’t you give them a little more choice? There are parts of the curse that seem like a gift, from certain angles. Could you widen those angles, just a bit?” The last shide is folded. Tohru stands, gathers the rest of them in her hands, and grabs the pins hiding in the corner of her bag. She hangs the shide to the rope, one by one, making a white curtain for the little animals inside. There are thirteen of them. She is quite proud for having thought to fold the exact number. 

“I’m sure you only want what’s best for them. Why else would you give them each an entire species? …I think my terms are reasonable.” She closes her eyes, bows her head, and claps twice.

“Do we have a deal?”

* * *

Everyone is sitting around the table, Shigure placidly listening to the usual bickering as Tohru serves breakfast. Kyo manages a mumbled “Thanks,” before digging in, and Yuki offers her a “Thank you” and a smile before taking a delicate bite. Shigure reaches for his coffee before shouting “Aha!” and reaching for his pen.

“Oh? Did you figure out the crossword?” Tohru asks. She leans over his shoulder to see the paper. “Let me see, I want to know which hint you just solved.”

“It was a tough one, Tohru-chan, but don’t worry, it was nothing I couldn’t handle! Just goes to show that even at my… age…” He trails off as he realizes what’s happening. Tohru is leaning on his back, arms draped over his shoulders as she looks at the paper, the very image of a lazy family morning. By all of the curse’s standards, this counts as an embrace, yet Shigure still very much has opposable thumbs and no fur.

“Tohru? What is–What did– _ What _ ?!” His near hysterics draws the other two’s attention. Kyo is too shocked to even let his chopsticks fall out of his mouth, while Yuki’s slip straight from his hand to the floor.

“Ta-da!” She pulls away, the chipperness that’s been in her voice all morning finally coming out full-force. Her whole face is split with a wide grin.

“What did you do,” Kyo demands, grabbing his chopsticks and stabbing them into his rice. Is the curse–? No, he can still  _ feel  _ it there. But then how–? 

“I renegociated the curse!” she chirps.

“ _ How _ ?” Yuki asks.

“I went to the shrine in the Soma compound and cleaned it up a bit. I talked to it a bit, too. Now,” she ticks off on her fingers, “you should be able to hug others without any problems, Kyo shouldn’t have to deal with his additional form anymore, and you should all be able to transform at will!”

“What do you mean, ‘at will?’ Why would we ever want– And how would we even–?” Kyo stammers. The wind was taken out of his sails a bit at item number two on the list.

“Like this!” Tohru says, and suddenly the room is filled with a pink cloud. The three of them shield their faces and blink it away, until slowly, the fog dissapates, and they can see. Standing in the middle of the living room, barely avoiding bumping into the walls, is a heifer, staring at them all with wide, sweet eyes, a ribbon on each of her horns.

“Taurus,” Yuki whispers. Shigure folds in on himself, burying his face in his sleeves while laughing mirthlessly.

“Fuck. Me. Running.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Yep! I woke up, had this idea, and 13 hours later this exists. I have more idea for this idea left, I just got impatient and wanted to post. and that was a really good line to cut it at.  
> This is also an open invitation to yell in the comments "Hey wouldn't _______ be hilarious/cool/etc.?" and then I'll go "Oh hell yeah" and probably shove it into a chapter. I'm not in charge of this concept anymore, it decides what it wants to be and I just write it.


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